Rockets turn their attention to finding big man to pair with Lin

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After an unprecedented decision by the NBA commissioner, a tumultuous season and a near-complete overhaul of the roster, the Rockets are back where they were in their first offseason without Yao Ming: planning to build around a point guard and a center.

The names have changed. For now, there is just one, Jeremy Lin, the point guard they let go and will spend $25.1 million to bring back to Houston. The strategy remains.

The Rockets showed their hand last season when they agreed to trade their top two returning scorers, a young point guard and a first-round pick to get Pau Gasol. They were willing to give up almost anything necessary to get the centerpiece center to pair with the point guard, Kyle Lowry.

That was not the extent of the plan. They also were confident they would be able to bring in Nene. But the Rockets’ mission, stalled when NBA commissioner David Stern would not sign off on the deal, was clear.

After all the changes since, the Rockets have their point guard. They will continue their odd recent pattern of replacing every starting point guard with his backup — from Rafer Alston to Aaron Brooks to Kyle Lowry to Goran Dragic to Lin, who spent 12 days in the Rockets’ training camp.

The well-documented planned next step is to get that center. The Rockets expect to sign Bulls restricted free agent Omer Asik to an offer sheet Friday. Talks continue with the Orlando Magic about a trade for Dwight Howard, with the Rockets offering a combination of their recent draft picks and the pick they acquired from the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Lowry.

They also could take on some of the Magic’s burdensome contracts, with roughly $9 million of cap space available even if the Rockets add Asik to Lin, not including the room that could be opened by trading or releasing players with non-guaranteed contracts.

The Rockets have taken the Lin and Asik contracts into account when negotiating with the Magic, according to a person with knowledge of the process. They still would have room to make that deal after using the amnesty provision to remove Luis Scola’s contract from their books.

That flexibility could make the Rockets a trade partner even in a Magic deal with the Lakers because Los Angeles has no cap room to take on extra contracts and the Magic would not want Andrew Bynum as the centerpiece of the deal if he, like Howard, is unwilling to accept a contract extension.

Retool to rebuild

Even if the Rockets do not land Howard or Bynum — and the odds are against it — they were determined to retool the roster to make it ready for a deal whenever the next centerpiece star becomes available.

Either way, they soon will have to move from collecting prospects and trade pieces to building their team.

That now will require building around Lin and his strengths. The Rockets won’t have to change the offense much. It was nearly as heavy in pick-and-roll with the point guard handling the ball and triggering the offense as Mike D’Antoni’s offense was when Lin took off with New York. The Knicks, however, made it work with outstanding floor spacing, with D’Antoni finding another former Rockets player, Steve Novak, near the end of the bench next to Lin.

Own version of Parker?

Novak had by far his best season and was rewarded with a four-year, $15 million contract, but he also helped Lin earn his deal by forcing defenses to spread the floor, allowing Lin to go to work in the middle of the floor. The Spurs have allowed Tony Parker to similarly slice through defenses.

The Rockets, however, have relatively little range shooting, particularly out of the frontcourt. If they get Asik, Howard or Bynum, they will have a big man on the block or rolling to the rim. They likely will prefer to have another frontcourt player on the perimeter and someone who must be defended in the corners.

Putting that together will not be easy. The Rockets have collected prospects — Marcus Morris, Chandler Parsons, Donatas Motiejunas, Jeremy Lamb, Royce White and Terrence Jones — the past two seasons in the hopes that someone in the group would grow into a breakout star.

Lamb, Jones and Motiejunas have been especially impressive in summer league, but none seems likely to be a player who changes defenses. And if there is a deal, several could be moved anyway, forcing the Rockets into more retooling.

The Rockets, of course, would love to have that problem. Until then, they’ve at least taken one step in that direction.